Review – Ko Murobushi (Butoh) – The Place

The Ko Murobushi show at the Place last night was pretty cool, but it’s hard to explain to people what was good about a Butoh show. “Er, a naked guy coated in silvery paint crawled across the floor for half an hour, then he stood up? The climax was him throwing sand around?” We were tranfixed by his utter control of his body – it was like moving sculpture – and I liked the way he felt so fragile, somehow, despite being obviously so strong. He made the Butoh dance troop I saw in Seattle look really … I don’t know, jejeune or something. It seems to me that there’s a certain quality of good Butoh, that it feels “sincere” somehow – I’m not sure how to express it. But we thought it was good, and the house was sold out, so apparently there are more than 12 people that like Butoh in London, just not any among my circle of friends.